The blog of Brian Wainwright, author of Within the Fetterlock, The Adventures of Alianore Audley and...

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Author Page at Amazon.com

Thanks to a tip from Sharon K. Penman - thank you Sharon! - I have set myself up with an author page at Amazon.com. It really isn't that hard to do and any authors out there might like to have a go themselves if they haven't already.

The one odd bit was that when the thing invited me to 'claim' my books it showed several that pretty obviously weren't written by Brian Wainwright. (Unless, for example, Amazon think that Susan Higginbotham is a penname of mine! - Susan will gladly confirm that it definitely isn't.)

I apologise for the photo (mine on the Amazon site that is). It was the best I could rustle up at short notice, as my resident official photographer has a habit of taking what she calls 'candid' shots. That is shots of me when I am wearing some kind of ghastly expression. This one makes me look like a mad professor, which is a relatively positive image compared to some.

For some reason Amazon won't accept photos of one with a pet. Which is a pity, as I am more relaxed with a dog about, and a greyhound is beautiful enough to divert the eye from my time-worn features...So here to make up for it here is one of me with old George.

5 comments:

I did find that bit a bit puzzling! Actually some of the books 'offered' were really improbable given that they were about feminist philosophy and stuff. Apart from the fact that the author's name was different, and that the subject matter was something right out of my sphere, the linkage was obvious...

And I thought I took the worst photo. IMO, my photos rarely look like me, although I do have a couple of candid shots that are really nice.

Brian, I have a suggestion on the photo front--you might have to resize the one with George. Love the photo but it might be too large (width and height and/or file size). Let me know if you don't have the software to resize the photo. I'd be happy to resize it for you so you can get George on Amazon.

Brian, I just stopped by your author page and you're right, that photo does make you look like a mad professor (or scientist, but where's Igor). I really did laugh out loud. I think one problem with the photo is that the color is off. It might look better if you converted it to a B&W (gray scale) photo.

I will think about that, or simply find a nicer photo! Amazon's rejection of pets is just that. They want a photo of the author ONLY, no pets, partners, friends or other distractions. Most of the (relatively) nice photos of me have one or t'other.